83 Days to Gold Coast

“There will be good days and there will be bad days. But being consistent is what matters most.”quoted Strength Sensei on facebook today.

How true! Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I give up on back squat after I failed to get back up from the bottom of my squat with a 70kg bar behind my back in 2007. I don’t remember how I got out of that but that moment of me stuck in the bottom still sometimes haunts me when I am about to squat heavy shits.

However, that bad experience did not stop me there. Throughout the years, my training has been consistent including days when I was just ego lift. With the consistency of training, I also came to understand the bad days of training are inevitable. Bad days used to make me grumpy about a lift I could not make. Nowadays, I take it as a sign to take a step back, have my zen routine, tell myself “So what! Just give all you have” and do whatever I can.

Today is one of those bad days. The moment I put an 85kg bar behind my back for warm up, I knew it will be a struggle for the work set. At the start of each work set, I put my zen routine in place before I drop deep into squat position with a house on my back. The painful looks of athletes who have been an inspiration to me flashes before my eyes every I get myself out of the deep end of each squat. When pain sets in, I will ask myself “What would [athlete’s name] do?” (I am very into Crossfit so the Crossfitter names usually pop up)

“They will fucking do it” I answered in my head.

So on a bad day like this, I PR my back squat with the help of my zen routine and positive thinking. A 1 rep max became a 3 reps max. 135kg, that is. A weight I have not touched since Jul 2014 as my focus was shifted to training with lower weight and more volume. Even though it is slightly off the mark from my today’s goal of 140kg for 3 reps, which could be too ambitious, I am happy that I still hit a PR while taking a step back. I cannot imagine what number I would hit if I feel fresh. Time will tell. And the time will come next Tuesday. Not a long wait unless I have another bad days. Note to self, no hard feeling even if it will be a bad day with no PR.